In Your Corner - Chapter 17
"So what's there to know about you that I don't already?" Juliette asked rather directly as they walked down the quiet suburban streets, letting her hand lightly string through Avery's.
Avery shrugged, "Ah, I don't know, I was just being dramatic I guess."
She looked at him skeptically, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I mean. It's obvious I have a good set of folks and my siblings mean well." he took a minute to look around, his eyes strained from the sunlight, "It just wasn't that easy growing up in there."
"Because of music?" Juliette let her clue-collecting go to work.
"That and just being creative in general. Nikki and Dusty were never gonna amount to much you know but I had brains, that's what they called it. My momma and dad thought I was gonna be the one to bail the family out, go be a doctor or a lawyer or professor, make tons of money."
His girlfriend watched silently. She read every detail of his face, every twitch of every nerve. "And I liked school, it was fine, but the only things I ever wanted to do was read and write. I wanted to create something, not be stuck in an office."
"You are very cultured." she laughed, remembering the days early on in their relationship where they watched Fellini.
Avery managed to crack a smile, "Yeah, but that obviously didn't go well with my parents. They hounded me to do my homework, take harder classes, they even paid for SAT prep classes so I was guaranteed to get into a good school."
"How did your siblings react to that?"
"Not well." he responded simply, "Dusty and Nikki have been working their whole lives at mediocre jobs, helping out with the bills for all of us and here I was taking their hard earned money for SAT classes and getting all of mom and dad's attention."
"Still have some of that contempt I see." Juliette noticed.
"You think?" he laughed, "Thank god Tay was still a kid when all this happened, she still likes me."
"So what did happen, you went to college right? That's how you met Scarlett."
"Well the whole time I was in high school, the second I got done with school work and stuff, I'd go up to my room and play guitar and right songs. That's why I got my work done, that's what I looked forward to. And my parents knew this, you know, they were never really music people but as long as I got my work done it was fine."
"I never even had a guitar." Juliette related his musical past to her own, "I'd go upstairs whenever my momma wasn't home and listen to her records to make some sound 'cause it was scary being home all alone, it made me feel like I wasn't alone anymore."
"Music was that for me too. I didn't have many friends and I didn't really care 'cause I'd rather had Johnny Cash singing to me than hanging out with some stupid 18 year old hicks. Anyway, I got into college for pre-med and everything was great. I went my first semester and it was so so so clear that pre-med wasn't for me. I switched my major to English with a music minor and did that for two years."
"Two years?!" Juliette exclaimed, "What did your parents say to … oh."
"Yeah they didn't know." Avery shook his head, "Whenever they found out, they threatened to stop paying for tuition if I didn't go back to a med or law major and I told them to forget it. Lo and behold, the checks stopped coming in and I dropped out and fled to Nashville just like that."
"Oh my god." Juliette was shocked to learn this new information about her trusting, responsible, loving boyfriend.
"Yeah I mean, I didn't talk to them for maybe 5 years but I've been able to mend some fences since then and we're on okay terms now."
"Avery I'm so…"
"Don't be, it was all my fault."
"Do you regret it?"
"Which part?"
"Any part."
"Not at all." he smiled into the Mississippi sunshine, "I'm happier than I've ever been precisely because of all the decisions I've made up to this point. Sure all the stuff in between points A and B wasn't always peachy but I've got everything I've ever wanted now."
"So if you're already at point B, what else?" Juliette wondered out loud.
"What do you mean? I have an producing gig, I've already produced some successful albums, I'm in a band with my friends, my family and I are okay, and I'm in love."
"Is that all there is?" she nagged
"I mean, I may be at point B in my life, but you did learn that there were more than two letters in the alphabet, right?"
Juliette annoyingly rolled her eyes at him, "No way I had no idea."
"Points C, D, E, F, G are gonna happen, but now I have all these amazing things to come with me."
"Here I am, trying to be all philosophical but you're so smart you still make me look like a fool." Juliette laughed to lighten the mood.
"Who is the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows her?"
"What's that supposed to mean, Yoda?"
"Okay, number one, Master Yoda it is. And number two, it means I am so crazy in love with you it's unbelievable."
"Oh really?" Juliette bit her lip.
"Come on, you like me." he gave her that half grin that drove her crazy.
"Yeah, I mean, a tiny bit" Juliette started laughing, pinching her fingers together sarcastically. Avery rolled his eyes and so she grabbed the back of his head and pulled it towards hers for a kiss. Once they broke apart, Juliette lingered for a second to whisper in Avery's ear, "I love you, too."
"Let's go back to the Barkley residence so we can move on to point C of our lives." he joked, grabbing her hand and finishing the final stretch of their walk.
"I know you're a man with a plan, so what exactly is point C?" she asked.
Avery gripped her hand a bit tighter, and then suddenly stopped in the middle of the road.
"Woah there." Juliette almost fell forward, then looked up at her boyfriend, "What's going on?"
Avery released her hand from his almost instantly and began feeling around in his pockets. His right arm settled in his right jean pocket, seemingly content with what it had found. He then took a step in front of her and got down on one knee.
Juliette almost had a heart attack. Plan C.
He looked up at her with all the love he found for this broken woman, and she looked down at him with all the love that she never could muster up for anyone else.
"Juliette."
She couldn't talk if she tried.
"I know this is unexpected, but that's how life is. So I'm asking you know, will you…"
It was happening, my god it was happening.
"...help me find my house key."
Her mind snapped in half, "What."
He removed his hand from his pocket to show the inside of his jeans, hopelessly key-less.
"We need to find my key or we can't get back into my house." he laughed, starting to feel around the ground.
"Avery Barkley, you are the biggest asshole I've ever met in my entire life!" she laughed, still reeling from the shock, and the fact that she fell for it.
"Come on, we're in the middle of a Mississippi neighborhood!" he laughed, standing up.
Juliette couldn't keep her angry face up, she looked equal parts pissed, fooled, and in shock, "God I hate you."
"I love you too." he rejoined her on the trek back to his house, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. Juliette grabbed the top of his hand and kissed it gently, "I hate you. I hate you. I hate you."
"I'm sorry, babe. I couldn't resist." he laughed, with sincerity in his voice as his hand reached out and grabbed the front door. He paused again, looking back at her, brows wide, "But it's coming, don't worry."
Avery's words hit her like a freight train as disappeared into the home and she followed him like a ghost. For the second time that evening, she couldn't talk if she tried.
A/N: Oh hey everybody! In an effort to avoid real life obligations, I decided to revisit one of my favorite fics since Nashville is in the final stretch of season 3. Anyway, while it's hard to imagine these two not being married and parents to a baby girl (!), I hope you enjoyed the update as I dug myself out of a writing hole and am back on track to finish this story in a few chapters. As always please review, it makes the writing process go magically faster!
Best,
Bettakappa
